Raul Fernandez established the benchmark in Practice for the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika, putting Aprilia into all three leading positions. The Trackhouse rider recorded a 1m28.725s lap to finish 0.219s ahead of Marco Bezzecchi. Jorge Martin was third, 0.481s from Fernandez, completing the Aprilia 1-2-3.

The hour-long session began late because of a connectivity problem in the FIM stewards’ room. Fernandez had the early pace, but the decisive phase arrived when the riders fitted fresh soft tyres for their time attacks during the final 15 minutes. He first set a 1m29.341s, then lowered the benchmark to 1m28.725s with 10 minutes remaining. Nobody found a response before the chequered flag.

Aprilia’s potential had already been visible in FP1, where Bezzecchi was fastest, and the marque had been expected to perform strongly at Mandalika. Pedro Acosta was fourth as the leading rider outside the Aprilia group. Marc Marquez put the fastest Ducati fifth, 0.701s off the top, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth and just 0.004s behind him.

Q2 places and a crowded incident list

Fabio Quartararo finished seventh and secured direct passage to Q2 despite crashing at Turn 9. Alex Marquez also retained a Q2 place after his fall at Turn 16, three minutes before the end. Franco Morbidelli was ninth, while Pecco Bagnaia took 10th and secured his first direct Q2 place since the Dutch Grand Prix in June.

A late crash for Alex Rins interrupted Ai Ogura’s final lap with yellow flags. Ogura finished 13th, behind Jack Miller and Rins, and will therefore have to go through Q1. Enea Bastianini, Fermin Aldeguer and Diogo Moreira also fell, with Bastianini crashing twice. Aldeguer then suffered a technical problem after his second fall and ended the session 15th.

No Honda rider reached Q2 directly, with Luca Marini leading the manufacturer in 14th. Joan Mir’s stand-in, Aleix Espargaro, was 22nd and 2.969s off Fernandez’s pace. For championship leader Martin, third place came in a session where Fernandez confirmed his Mandalika speed after taking a Sprint podium there the previous year.